Taking Screenshots on Kindle Fire Tablets

Contents

Introduction

When you submit your app to the Amazon Mobile App Distribution Portal, you must include at least three screenshots of your app. This guide describes the process of taking screenshots on Kindle Fire tablets.

Depending on the model, there are different methods to take screenshots on Kindle Fire tablets. For any Kindle Fire tablet, you can take a screenshot from your development computer using Eclipse. On Kindle Fire tablets that have physical volume control buttons, you can also use the hardware buttons on the tablet to take a screenshot.

All Kindle Fire Tablets

You can take screenshots from all Kindle Fire tablets using Eclipse, which is the standard desktop developer tool for Android.

In Eclipse, from the Window menu, select Open Perspective > Other... > DDMS.

Select the Kindle Fire tablet, and click the camera icon.
(If the tablet isn't shown, from the Window menu, select Navigation > Show View Menu > Reset adb.)
The Device Screen Capture window displays the current screen as shown on the tablet. If the device screen saver is on, the window shows what would be on the screen if the screen saver were not running.

Save the screen by clicking Save.

When you are finished taking screenshots, click Done.

Kindle Fire Tablets That Have Volume Control Buttons

You can use the physical buttons on the device to take screenshots on the following Kindle Fire tablets:

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" (3rd Gen)

Kindle Fire HDX 7" (3rd Gen)

Kindle Fire HD 7" (3rd Gen)

Kindle Fire HD 8.9" (2nd Gen)

Kindle Fire HD 7" (2nd Gen)

The Volume Down button and the Power button are located on the back of the third-generation Kindle Fire tablets. On the second-generation tablets, these buttons are along the edge, as shown in the following illustration, where #1 is the Volume Down button, and #2 is the Power button.

Note: On Kindle Fire (1st Generation) and Kindle Fire (2nd Generation), you must use Eclipse to take screenshots because these tablets do not have physical Volume buttons.

To take a screen shot by using physical buttons:

With the Kindle Fire tablet powered on, simultaneously press and hold the Volume Down button and Power button for at least one second.
The screen flashes briefly and a smaller screen image appears in the center of the screen to indicate a successful screenshot. If the volume is turned up, you'll hear a shutter sound just before the screen flashes.

Release the buttons.

Connect the tablet to your computer.

Windows: Navigate to Internal Storage > Pictures > Screenshots on the Kindle Fire tablet. The screenshots are saved with generic filenames that include the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second in the format: Screenshot_yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss.png.OS X: Mac users need to install a free app, Android File Transfer, to complete a USB transfer. Visit android.com/filetransfer and follow the onscreen instructions. After installing Android File Transfer (AFT), AFT starts automatically when you plug in your Kindle Fire tablet. In the AFT window, navigate to Pictures > Screenshots. The screenshots are saved with generic filenames that include the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second in the format: Screenshot_yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss.png as shown below:

FAQ

Q: Can I control the resolution of the screenshot?

A: No. You can change the resolution using any image-editing tool.

Q: What is the file format of the screenshot?

A: PNG. You can change the file format using any image-editing tool.

Q: Are these procedures unique to Kindle Fire or are they standard to Android?

A: Android devices that have a physical Volume Down button and Power button can take screenshots directly from the device.